Notes: Mint 14 uses MDM (Mint Display Manager), not gdm or kdm, so to make the changes persist the file to edit is /etc/mdm/Init/Default. An easy way to do this is to navigate to the file using Nemo (the MInt file manager), then right-click on the file and select open as root. Now when you double-click on the file it will open for editing in gedit. Add the lines as described in the Ubuntu Geek post, save and reboot.

When the computer restarts you should notice the splash screen is at the correct resolution but when you login you will have the old setting. To fix this, go to prefences, displays and you should now be able to select your prefered resolution. This should now persist whenever you login. Other users will need to change their resoltion, when they next login. (If anyone can improve on this, please post below.)

If you use these instructions successfully it would be nice if you posted to let me know that they work. Thanks.

Enjoy

Last edited by mactece on Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I followed all this to the letter and now both panels have reset to a lower white panel. I tried going into Cinnamon Settings but it is on Classic panel layout, even if I change it the changes can't be seen. I tried inputting ALT+F2 to restart cinnamon and now I get the Run Application instead of the screen going black. Any help on this? Is there any way to rollback what I had?

AbnerC wrote:I followed all this to the letter and now both panels have reset to a lower white panel. I tried going into Cinnamon Settings but it is on Classic panel layout, even if I change it the changes can't be seen. I tried inputting ALT+F2 to restart cinnamon and now I get the Run Application instead of the screen going black. Any help on this? Is there any way to rollback what I had?

Yes, you can roll back to what you had before, but it would involve knowing what you had before, and I doubt you made notes. The alternative is to backup your /home folder and re-install Mint. This is why you don't make the changes to MDM until after you have tested the changes to make sure that you get your desktop set in the manner you wish.

You say that "now both panels have reset to a lower white panel". Are you talking about a single monitor? Dual-monitors? Default Cinnamon has a single lower screen panel with menu, not two panels.

Have you tried one of your alternate DE settings from your MDM login screen, or is it the MDM login screen which has changed?

It would be good if you could post some information about your system and what happened when you followed the test commands as described in the ubuntugeek article, so that we can help you. e.g. What os, what session you are using, what did the login screen look like, etc. Also post the contents of your mdm file.

Notes: Mint 14 uses MDM (Mint Display Manager), not gdm or kdm, so to make the changes persist the file to edit is /etc/mdm/Init/Default. An easy way to do this is to navigate to the file using Nemo (the MInt file manager), then right-click on the file and select open as root. Now when you double-click on the file it will open for editing in gedit. Add the lines as described in the Ubuntu Geek post, save and reboot.

When the computer restarts you should notice the splash screen is at the correct resolution but when you login you will have the old setting. To fix this, go to prefences, displays and you should now be able to select your prefered resolution. This should now persist whenever you login. Other users will need to change their resoltion, when they next login. (If anyone can improve on this, please post below.)

Enjoy

So, that implies that in Nadia, changing xorg.conf will not fix the display resolution by itself, but you have to modify that mdm file as well, or instead of xorg.conf? Is that what I'm reading? I was wondering because I noticed the other day that my htpc booted into 800x600, which is correct and in accord with xorg.conf, but the refresh rate was off--65hz, when it should be 85hz. I think the higher hertz allows more vibrant colors, does it not? I know the latest plasmas boast about their 120hz or in some cases 250hz, as if this means something. Brightness?

@igor83: When X was overhauled to deprecate the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (I don't remember precisely, but it seemed to be about 2010-2011), the resolution settings in my xorg.conf file which had worked since Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy crashed and burned, and haven't been re-instated. Multiple monitor settings, input settings and others have come back, but resolution settings have simply not worked, and I don't know why. I have tested this in many Ubuntu and Debian derived systems, including Ubuntu and Debian. Maybe some of the RPM based distros still can use xorg.conf to set resolutions, but the few I have tested also seem to rely on xrandr to set resolutions and refresh rates.

In the few computer/video systems which can't be set by xrandr (usually because of an error about not reading the gamma of the display correctly), I haven't found any resolution other than changing the display driver to one which does read the display gamma correctly. /etc/X11/xorg.conf doesn't work in them either to set the resolution, gamma, or refresh rate. And I have been watching posts on the Ubuntu forums and here since the problem occurred on my system. Ubuntu 9.10 was about the last Ubuntu standard desktop which would work on my (then present) desktop. I had had problems with the upgrades from 7.10 to 8.04 when Pulse Audio was introduced getting my sound back, the upgrade to 8.10 was relatively painless, but 9.04 had an X upgrade and it took me a while to fix the video system using the xorg.conf file to work properly (change in syntax), similar problems with 9.10, then 10.04 stopped recognizing my PS/2 keyboard and other problems kept me from using that release at all on my desktop and none of the intervening releases up to 12.04 would even boot the Live CD to a desktop on my desktop computer.

In January 2012, I changed desktop computers to a DIY with a BioStar N68S3B motherboard, 8G RAM, AMD Athlon II x3 processor, nVidia Geforce 7025 on-board graphics. Xubuntu 11.10 would boot, but I had already switched over to LMDE as my main system, Debian Squeeze as a secondary system. Debian 5.0 Lenny would work with /etc/X11/xorg.conf, Debian 6.0 Squeeze would not. Debian Wheezy does not.

The method I posted at the top is all about screen resolution. It does not use nor need an xorg.conf file. The mdm reference makes sense when you read the Ubuntu Geek post, which definitely needs to be read and understood before making permanent changes. You will see it describes a way to try out the changes before making them permanent.

BTW, my understanding is that the X system should detect all the necessary settings automatically, so there is no xorg.conf file anymore. However you can generate one and if it exists then your system will use it. If you search for xorg you will get plenty of useful links. It is beyond my understanding how you would use this to solve a resolution problem so if you find a way, I'd be interested to know what it is.

Note the error on reading the size of the gamma and the default connected lines. You could not use xrandr --output default --mode 1280x1024, even if you had properly defined the 1280x1024@60Hz mode. Reading man xrandr, I noted a 'new' option to set the --gamma for the display. What worked in two VirtualBox machines and a Live DVD which had this problem (after defining the mode 1280x1024) was to change the line to:

thank you for the fast response and I am sorry if I am misunderstanding but I placed the information in the xinitrc file and no changeNo .xprofile but there is a .profile file when adding that file seems to not allow the UI to load.

~/.xprofile was created for me during one of my updates, which copied information which I had put in lightdm during an update to mdm to this file in my personal directory.

You should be able to create and use either ~/.xprofile or ~/.xinitrc to see if either would work. Just remember the system expects that they are shell scripts using shell (bash) commands, and that you will probably have to use chmod +x ~/.xprofile or chmod +x ~/.xinitrc after creating the files to make sure that they will execute properly.

First of all: I am a newbie to Linux and yesterday I installed Mint 14 (MATE)

I have a problem here that is related to the 1920x1080 @ 60Hz. I followed the steps outlined in this post and now I can set that resolution to the full hd resolution. My monitor is a Samsung syncmaster 2233SW+, so its native resolution is 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz.

However I noticed that it is cropping the right side of the screen on MInt, maybe about 100-200 pixels. I did check the monitor on a Windows Xp and everything is correct on this resolution. The problem is on Mint.

To edit the relevant file in MDM, you can just type the following in a Terminal,

sudo gedit /etc/mdm/Init/Default

In my case, the newly added resolution (and refresh rate) became the default in all of the user accounts. There was no need to select it in the Display Settings.

If you want a particular refresh rate, add the desired refresh rate at the end of the cvt command. For example,

cvt 1280 960 70

will generate the data for a resolution of 1280 x 960 at a refresh rate of 70Hz. I find that flickering is quite noticeable at 60Hz and much prefer a higher refresh rate.

However, please be sure that your monitor can cope with the higher resolutions and refresh rate as overdriving your monitor can burn it out. Check you monitor manual or user guide before using the higher resolutions and refresh rate.

This basically worked for me in Linus Mint 16 XFCE, with a slight change to the way to edit the default file. I used the file manager to navigate to the folder where the default file is:

/etc/mdm/Init/

I then right clicked in the window folder and opened the folder as root. I then opened the default file with the text editor, and modified the file per the instructions linked on ubuntugeek. I used the outputs in my terminal window since I was doing a different resolution anyway, and from the above I guess there are mistakes in the lines on ubuntugeek.

Pretty basic, but this is my first week on Linux Mint after two decades on Windows. Every successful step is a great. Thanks for the help mactece!

Background: When I installed Mint 14 (Nadia) it could not detect my monitor and defaulted to 1024x800 (4:3). It would not detect my 1600x900 dell monitor with vga connector (the only wire provided).

Solution: I followed the instructions in this post on Ubuntu Geek: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-change-di ... randr.html with the modifications in the notes, below. Please do read the post carefully and try out the instructions in the way they describe before making permanent changes.

Notes: Mint 14 uses MDM (Mint Display Manager), not gdm or kdm, so to make the changes persist the file to edit is /etc/mdm/Init/Default. An easy way to do this is to navigate to the file using Nemo (the MInt file manager), then right-click on the file and select open as root. Now when you double-click on the file it will open for editing in gedit. Add the lines as described in the Ubuntu Geek post, save and reboot.

When the computer restarts you should notice the splash screen is at the correct resolution but when you login you will have the old setting. To fix this, go to prefences, displays and you should now be able to select your prefered resolution. This should now persist whenever you login. Other users will need to change their resoltion, when they next login. (If anyone can improve on this, please post below.)

If you use these instructions successfully it would be nice if you posted to let me know that they work. Thanks.